Logger



May 26, 1970 c. w. STONE 3,513,998

IN VENT OR ATTORNEYS May 26, 1970 c. w. STONE 3,513,993

INVENT OR 762/94 WAfrO/vf BY AMM ATTORNEYS United States Patent O 3,513,998 LOGGER Carl W. Stone, Franklin, Va., assignor to Franklin Equipment Company, Incorporated, Franklin, Va., a corporation of Virginia Filed Sept. 13, 1968, Ser. No. 759,731 Int. Cl. B66c 1/30 U.S. Cl. 214-147 14 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE A logger having a vehicle body and a boom pivotally mounted on the vehicle body by a pair of rigid, unextendible support means with piston and cylinder means for pivoting the forward support means and hence the boom and including a grapple secured to the rear end of the boom and rotatable about a vertical axis and pivotal about a horizontal axis.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a loading device and more particularly to a logger.

There are various types of lifting devices in the prior art for logs and the like. These devices are designed to completely lift a load olf the ground and support it in air. As a result, these lifting devices are quite complicated and for the purpose of maintaining balance of the vehicle during lifting, a boom is generally pivotally mounted on one end of the vehicle and extends the length of and above the vehicle with the other end having a grapple means or the like thereon. Elaborate cylinders and pistons of considerable length are provided to obtain the necessary lift once the log has been engaged by the grapple. Such loading devices often are diicult to manipulate in crowded surroundings. Y

SUMMARY OF INVENTION The present invention is not a lifting device. Rather, it is intended to be a convenient, easily manipulated, versatile device for engaging `and lifting one end of a log whereby the log can be dragged to a designated place. Simplicity and the compactness of operation are essential in a logger. Moreover, it is desirable to have a boom and grapple means which can reach to the ground, and engage and pick up the logs regardless of the alignment of the logs with respect to the back of the vehicle. These desired features are achieved through the present invention. Other specific objects of the invention will become readily apparent in the detailed description of the construction of this logger and in the claims appended hereto.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a fragmentary, perspective view of the logger with some parts broken away for clarity;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the logger; and

FIG. 3 is an end view of the grapple means engaging a relatively small log and showing the grapple times in overlapping relationship.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the logger 10 comprises a vehicle body 12 mounted on wheels 14 (although an endless track could be used just as easily) with a cab '16 and engine 18 mounted on the front portion thereof and a logging device mounted on the rear portion thereof.

The logging device 20 includes a boom 22 which is adapted to move rearwardly and downwardly as shown in dotted lines in FIGURE 2 and forwardly and upwardly as shown in solid lines in FIG. 2. This movement of the boom enables one end of logs lying on the ground to be grappled, lifted up, and moved into a hauling position wherein the other end of the logs is resting on the ground.

The boom 22 is supoprted above the vehicle body by a pair of support means. One support means is described as a rst rear support means 24 and includes a rigid, non-extendible inverted U-shaped member or yoke member 26, the free ends 28 of the legs 34 of which are operatively and pivotally mounted to the vehicle body adjacent its rear end 30 and the intermediate portion or apex 32 of the yoke mem-ber being operatively and pivotally mounted to the boom 22.

In the embodiment of the invention disclosed herein, the first yoke member comprises a pair of legs 34 which include substantially parallel bottom portions 36 and converging upper portions 38. The upper portions converge and engage a crossbar 40 at their upper ends. The crossbar 40 has a pair of upwardly extending lugs 42 which are pivotally mounted in a pair of non-movable jaws 44 extending downwardly from the boom.

The vehicle body 112, adjacent its rear end 30, has a pair of transversely spaced, upwardly extending rear brackets `46 rigidly mounted thereon. The upper ends 48 of the brackets receive the lower portions of the legs 34 of the rear yoke member 26 and pivotally support the yoke member on pins 50 defining a horizontal axis transverse to the vehicle body. The rear yoke member 26 thus pivots in a plane aligned with the longitudinal axis of the vehicle body.

The other support means is described as the second forward support means 54 and has a somewhat similar construction to the rear support member. This forward support means 54 includes a forward inverted U-shaped or yoke member 56 having a pair of legs 5S and a crossbrace 60 joining the legs `adjacent their upper ends 62. The legs have substantially parallel bottom portions 64 and converging top portions 66 which engage the crossbrace 60 adjacent their upper ends 62. The free ends 68 of the lower portions of the legs are pivotally mounted in forward brackets 69 by means of pins 70 defining a horizontal `axis transverse to the vehicle body. It will be seen that the horizontal axis of the pivotal 4connection of the rear support member is spaced from, or disposed upwardly with respect to, the axis of pivotal connection of the forward support member.

The boom 22 comprises an approximate A-fram-e including two legs 72 having forward', substantially parallel portions 74 and converging rear portions 76. The forward ends 78 of the legs of the boom are pivotally connected to the upper ends 62 of the legs 58 of the forward yoke member 56 as at 80.

Because the boom, by means of downwardly extending jaws 44, engages the upwardly extending lugs 42 of the rear support member, it will be seen that the horizontal axis of the upper pivotal connection of the rear support member and the boom is spaced from, or downwardly disposed with respect to, the axis of the pivotal connection between the boom and the forward support member.

The rear portions 76 of the boom legs 72 terminate in and are connected to a hollow boss l82. A hollow stud 184 is rotatably mounted in the boss 82 and operatively carried thereby. The stud extends downwardly from the boss and pivotally carries the grapple frame means 86.

This frame means is mounted on a pin 88 extending through the stud 84 fwhich defines a horizontal axis. The frame means 86 carries a grapple means 90 which, for illustration, comprises arcuate tongs 92 pivotally mounted about horizontal axes 94 in the frame means. The arcuate tines or arms 96 defining the tongs 92 are mounted in offset relationship to each other so that the planes generated by the arcuate movement thereof are parallel and disposed from each other. Thus, the tines 96 can move past each other as disclosed in FIG. 3 and engage a relatively small log 98. The pair of tines are arcuately moved by a pair of double-acting cylinders 100 and pistons 102 which open and close the tongs. Each cylinder 100 is pivotally mounted on the frame means on a horizontal axis 104 parallel to the tine axes 94, but transversely outwardly disposed therefrom. The pistons 102 are pivotally connected to the tongs as at 106. A pair of hoses 108 for each cylinder extends along the inside of the legs 72 comprising the boom, through the hollow stud 84, and into contact with the respective cylinders 100. While the rotatable stud 84 enables the grapple means to rotate 360, it will be appreciated that generally rotation of the grapple means is confined to that necessary to secure the logs in question 'which would be something less than 360. Because the hoses for hydraulic fluid pass through a rotating hydraulic manifold mounted in the superstructure 52 above the hollow stud 84, complete and continuous rotation of the grapple means is permitted.

Another pair of double-acting cylinders 110 and pistons 112 are provided for moving the forward support member. The free ends 114 of the pistons 112 are pivotally connected to the legs 58 of the forward support member at l116 while the cylinders 110 are pivotally connected to the vehicle body through pivotal connections 117 in the rear brackets 46 extending upwardly lfrom the vehicle body. It will be seen that operation of these pistons moves the forward support member in an arcuate path with the rear support member merely acting as a guide and support for the boom. The arcuate movement of the forward support member causes the boom to move rearwardly and downwardly and forwardly and upwardly. When the boom is moved rearwardly and downwardly, the grapple means can engage logs lying on the ground. Movement of the boom to its forward position will lift one end of the logs off the ground so that they can be slid along the ground on their other end.

'I'here is also provided a cable 118 which engages at one end a hook and eye 120 secured to the grapple frame means. The cable passes over a roller 122 mounted above the crossbar 40 of the rear support member and is then wound up on a drum, not shown. This cable serves the purpose of preventing the grapple means from swinging free when it is empty as well as pulling up on the grapple means when it is loaded.

While a preferred form of the invention has been illustrated in the drawings and discussed above, it should be adequately clear that considerable modification may be made thereto without departing from the principles of the invention. Therefore, the foregoing should be considered in all illustrative sense rather than a limiting sense, and accordingly, the extent of this invention should be limited only by the spirit and scope of the claims appended hereto.

What is claimed is:

1. A logger comprising:

a vehicle body having front and rear ends;

a boom having front and rear ends and operatively mounted on and spaced above the vehicle body, the boom extending generally longitudinally of the vehicle body and out over the rear end of the vehicle body;

rigid, unextendible first support means pivotally connected at one end to the vehicle body adjacent the rear end of the vehicle body and pivotally con- 4 nected at another end to the boom intermediate its front and rear ends;

rigid, unextendible second support means pivotally connected at one end to the vehicle body forwardly of the connection of the first support means and pivotally connected at another end to the boom adjacent its front end;

piston and cylinder means attached to the vehicle body at one end and to one of the support means at the other end for moving the boom rearwardly and downfwardly and forwardly and upwardly; and grapple means mounted on the rear end of the boom.

2. The logger defined in claim 1 wherein the boom comprises a pair of legs having forward, approximately parallel portions and rear converging portions.

3. The logger defined in claim 1 wherein the first support means comprises a yoke having its free ends pivotally mounted on the vehicle body and it-s central portion pivotally connected to the boom.

4. The logger defined in claim 1 wherein the second support means comprises a yoke having its free ends pivotally mounted on the vehicle body and its central portion pivotally connected to the boom.

5. The logger defined in claim 1 wherein the piston and cylinder means is attached at one end -to the vehicle body intermediate the first and second support means.

6. The logger defined in claim 5 wherein the piston and cylinder means is connected at the other end to the second support means.

7. The logger defined in claim 6 wherein the piston and cylinder means comprises a pair of hydraulic cylinders and pistons, one pair mounted on each side of the vehicle body and wherein the second support means cornprises a yoke having two arms, each piston being connected to one arm.

8. The logger defined in claim 1 wherein the vehicle body has an upwardly extending rear bracket to which the first support means is connected adjacent the upper end of the rear bracket, and the first and second support means being operatively mounted to the vehicle body about horizontal axes, the fhorizontal axis of the first support means being upwardly disposed with respect to the horizontal axis of the second support means.

9. The logger defined in claim 1 wherein the grapple means is pivotally connected to the boom about a horizontal axis and is rotatably connected to the boom about a vertical axis.

10. The logger defined in claim 9 wherein the grapple means is continuously rotatable for 360 about the vertical axis.

11. The logger defined in claim 9 wherein the grapple comprises a pair of arcuate tines pivotally mounted for arcuate movement about horizontal axes, the tines being mounted offset so that the planes generated by the arcuate movement of the tines are parallel and disposed from each other whereby the tines can move past each other.

12. The logger dened in claim 11 additionally including a hollow boss secured to and defining the rear end of the boom, a stud rotatably mounted in the boss and operatively carried thereby, frame means pivotally mounted to the lower end of the stud extending from the boss about a horizontal axis, and a pair of pistons and cylinders pivotally mounted to the frame means 'about oppositely disposed horizontal axes parallel to and outwardly disposed from the horizontal axes defining the tine connections and each piston being connected at its free end to a respective tine.

13. The logger defined in claim 12 wherein the stud is hollow to allow conduits for hydraulic fluid to pass therethrough.

14. A logger comprising:

va vehicle body having front and rear ends;

a boom having front and rear ends and operatively mounted on and spaced above the vehicle body, the boom extending generally longitudinally of the vehicle body and out over the rear end of the vehicle body;

mounted on the vehicle body at one end and extending upwardly to a pivotal connection with the seca rear first, unextendible support means operatively ond support means; and

and pivotally mounted on -the vehicle body vabout a grapple means pivotally connected to the boom about horizontal axis transverse to the vehicle body, the 5 a horizontal axis and rotatably connected to the` upper end of the first support means being opera boom aboutavertical axis. tively and pivotally mounted to the boom intermediate the boom ends;

a forward second, unextendible support means operatively and pivotally mounted on the vehicle body 10 about a horizontal axis transverse to the vehicle body and downwardly disposed from the horizontal axis References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,651,424 9/1953 Johnson 214-147 2,788,143 4/ 1957 Tendresse 214-147 of the pivot connection of the rst support means, GERALD M FORLENZA, Primary Examiner the upper end of the second support means being operatively and pivotally mounted to the boom adjacent 15 G' F' ABRAHAM Assistant Examiner its front end; U.S. C1. X.R. piston and cylinder means operatively and pivotally 294--88 Y 

